- Romania: Regime extends pre-trial detention of far-right politician Calin Georgescu
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A Romanian court has extended the pre-trial detention of far-right politician Calin Georgescu by 30 days, in an investigation into an alleged 1.1 million euros ($1.2m) fraud case. The decision by the Bucharest Court of Appeal overturned an October 13 ruling by a lower court that ordered the pro-Russian former frontrunner in Romania’s cancelled 2024 presidential election to be moved from police custody to house arrest for 30 days pending the fraud probe. Prosecutors said Georgescu and two other suspects persuaded a Romanian businessman to give them 1.1 million euros by making him believe they could help him secure a credit line of up to 15 million euros ($16.7m) from a foreign financial institution. Georgescu denied any wrongdoing and claimed the investigations were ‘politically motivated’.” (10/28/26)
- Every Day That YOU Don’t Donate To Our Annual Fundraiser, A Cute Little Puppy Dies!
I can say that with reasonable certainty because, sadly, cute little puppies die every day whether you donate to our annual fundraiser or not.
Donating to our annual fundraiser won’t save any of those cute little puppies (at least not directly), but you should do it anyway because you value our work and want to support it.
Nobody donated yesterday, so our total remains (as of 5am today) at $1,058 … and lots of cute little puppies are no longer with us. Coincidence? I think not.
Once we’ve raised $2,751.50, we have a “matching funds” pledge from supporter GL for the second half of our $5,503 goal.
Won’t someone PLEASE think of the poor, cute little puppies?
SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
Note: My wife, Tamara, has (thankfully minor) surgery scheduled for today. Between time at the hospital and waiting on her hand and foot while she rests/recovers, I’ll be more pressed for time than usual, so I expect tomorrow’s edition to be a “web-only” affair.
If the puppy trick didn’t work on you, how about “my wife needs an operation?”
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous day!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily - Israel: Netanyahu claims stolen election amid failure to secure victory
Source: Politico
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party on Wednesday said that voter fraud perpetrated by Arab citizens prevented him from winning a clear victory in the country’s election. In a statement from Likud reposted on social media by Netanyahu, the right-wing party railed against early results from Tuesday night’s elections, claiming ‘evidence of election theft in many Arab polling stations’ and urging law enforcement agencies to ‘act harshly and swiftly.’ Those accusations have not been verified, nor did Likud provide any evidence to support its claims. According to local media, Israeli police have said there is no evidence to suggest Arab parties meddled in the election. Results of Tuesday night’s election are not yet clear.” (10/28/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/28/netanyahu-israel-stolen-election-claims-01139962
- Hacktivist group exposes more than 40,000 gang member identities
Source: CNBC
“The identities of over 41,000 officials from the Department of Homeland Security have allegedly been exposed in a massive data breach by a hacktivist group calling itself the Department of Peace. Late Wednesday stateside, the database was posted on Distributed Denial of Secrets, a nonprofit dedicated to news leaks, with claims that it was obtained from an Okta single sign-on service used by the DHS. It appears to reveal employee names, offices, contact information and assignments, and is searchable. … The searchable database appears to include employees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection and the DHS headquarters.” (10/29/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/dhs-data-breach-ice-cdp-deportations.html
- Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady even as inflation remains high
Source: CBS News
“The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday after hiking borrowing costs in September to clamp down on inflation. The central bank left the federal funds rate at a target range of 3.75% to 4%, keeping it unchanged after raising rates last month for the first time in three years. In a statement, the Fed said economic activity is growing at a ‘strong pace’ while acknowledging that inflation remains elevated.” (10/28/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/federal-reserve-holds-interest-rates-steady-inflation/
- US regime tells ships to avoid unnecessary transits through Hormuz
Source: Transport Topics
“The U.S. military said vessels that have no need to move between ports in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz should stay away, as tensions ratchet up in the region. ‘Due to the current geopolitical situation, vessels which do not need to transit the area are advised to remain well clear to avoid unnecessary delays to their voyage,’ the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in an advisory on Oct. 28 issued via the Joint Maritime Information Center. … It remains unclear what prompted the advisory. The U.S. military last publicly issued a similar notice in mid-July, when it began its blockade of Iranian shipping.” (10/28/26)
- Trump, Murkowski hammer Peltola over Alaska ballot-stacking report
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump demanded Wednesday that Democrat Mary Peltola be removed from Alaska’s Senate ballot following a report linking her campaign to a secret effort to peel away votes from Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by recruiting a candidate of the same name. With less than a week before the midterms, the report intensified a fight over the competitive Senate race, drawing condemnation from Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and a warning from Attorney General Todd Blanche that the Justice Department could take further action. … The president’s comments come after The New York Times reported Wednesday that Peltola campaign aides and officials with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee participated in a monthslong operation to recruit another Dan Sullivan and other potential spoilers to the ballot in Alaska.” [editor’s note: Dirty trick? Sure. But in what universe is it illegal to recruit candidates for public office? – TLK] (10/28/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/28/trump-murkowski-peltola-alaska-ballot-01140131
- Bolsonaro arrives in Miami after fleeing Brazil
Source: Yahoo! News
“Brazil’s defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro arrived at a Miami-area airport on Wednesday, after the US State Department said it would issue visas to him and his family following his loss to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s runoff election. … Bolsonaro’s arrival in the United States follows conflicting reports about his movements after leaving Brazil despite a court order banning him from travelling abroad. … Bolsonaro, who received tacit support from US President Donald Trump, is under investigation in Brazil for alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. He was ordered to surrender his passport and is expected to lose his parliamentary immunity following his election defeat.” (10/28/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/flavio-bolsonaro-arrives-miami-fleeing-172228550.html
- Italy: Meloni whines over judge’s “shameful” decision to free man accused of opposing Meloni regime
Source: Independent [UK]
“A judge in Milan has freed a 30-year-old researcher accused by police of helping orchestrate violent protests in Italy this month, in a ruling that has infuriated Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who denounced the decision as ‘shameful’. Youssef Siher, an Italian freelance journalist and geopolitics graduate of Moroccan origin, was detained by Milan prosecutors on 24 October on charges of incitement to commit crimes, aggravated by alleged terrorist purposes. … Prosecutors had portrayed Siher as a dangerous militant, but Milan judge Tiziana Landoni said in her ruling that the investigation appeared deeply flawed. ‘There are no serious grounds for believing that (Siher) committed the offences with which he has been charged, nor is there a risk of flight,’ Landoni wrote in her ruling.” (10/28/26)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italy-protests-meloni-youssef-siher-b3074930.html
- AK: State regime asks court to dismiss frivolous DOJ election lawsuit
Source: The Hill
“Alaska’s GOP-led government is urging a federal court to dismiss the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit seeking to bar the state from certifying its midterm election results, according to a Monday court filing. The DOJ lawsuit, filed last week, claimed the presence of a candidate with the same name as incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) could give Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola an unfair advantage in the upcoming election. In a motion to dismiss, attorneys representing Alaska and the other defendants named in the lawsuit said the state’s elections division ‘has taken significant steps to distinguish them on the ballot so that voters can easily determine which candidate is which.’ The state’s filing also noted ‘the United States lacks authority to intervene in state elections at all, much less in support of a favored candidate,’ adding ‘the complaint has no legal basis.'” (10/28/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/6177625-alaska-gop-moves-dismiss-doj-lawsuit
- Spain: Train crash kills at least 68
Source: CNN
“Scores of people have been killed and about 100 injured after a high-speed train collided with a stationary train. Spain’s transport minister called it ‘inexplicable’ that a train was allowed to continue its journey despite a red signal being in place. … This is the third rail disaster in Spain in 2026. In January, two high-speed trains collided near Adamuz, in southern Spain’s Córdoba province, killing more than 40 people. A commuter train near Barcelona derailed days later.” (10/28/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/28/world/live-news/spain-train-crash-collision-intl
- US regime publicly confesses to five more maritime murders
Source: United Press International
“The U.S. military [murdered] five people in a ‘kinetic strike’ targeting a boat operating along what it called ‘established narco-trafficking routes’ in the Eastern Pacific on Tuesday, as a senior Pentagon official compared Latin American drug cartels to Al-Qaida and ISIS and accused them of orchestrating legal challenges to the military campaign. The strike is the 72nd known attack by the U.S. military on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since the launch of the operation in September 2025. In those strikes, it has [murdered] at least 243 people it alleges were involved in drug trafficking, though family members of some of the dead have said their loved ones were fishermen and farmers.” (10/27/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/10/28/SOUTHCOM-boat-strike/5591793158414/
- SCOTUS allows DOJ, Texas regime to end Biden-era immigration rule
Source: Fox News
“The Supreme Court, with no noted dissents, has allowed an agreement between Texas and the Department of Justice ending a Biden-era immigration rule to go into effect. The Biden administration adopted the rule in 2024, formally establishing procedures for immigration judges to temporarily pause certain deportation proceedings through a practice known as ‘administrative closure’, including when migrants were pursuing immigration relief through other federal proceedings. The Supreme Court’s move leaves in place a lower court ruling eliminating that rule, stripping away a procedure that allowed certain deportation cases to be put on hold. Texas sued the federal government in June, arguing that the rule was adopted without proper legal authority.” (10/28/26)
- El Salvador: Regime deploys 1,000 gang members to Haiti after rival gang ambush
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“El Salvador has sent about 1,000 troops to Haiti after four Salvadorean members of a UN-backed security mission went missing in a [rival] gang ambush on the outskirts of the capital on October 18, a security official in Haiti told Reuters on Tuesday. The troops’ arrival aboard flights in recent days dramatically expands the Central American nation’s role in Haiti’s long-standing gang conflict. Yet it remains unclear who will command the new Salvadorean contingent, how long it will stay in Haiti or whether more forces will follow. Neither the Haitian nor Salvadorean government immediately responded to requests for comment.” (10/28/26)
- Luxury cruise passengers stranded in Cambodia due to soaring fuel costs
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A luxury cruise ship on a years-long voyage around the world said it suspended operations due to extraordinarily high fuel costs, leaving passengers stranded in Cambodia. The US-based operator of the Villa Vie Odyssey said it was working with passengers on disembarkation plans and ‘temporary living arrangements’. It is unclear how many were on board but the nearly 200m (656ft) vessel can carry up to 650 passengers. It departed Belfast in October 2024 for ‘a continuous voyage around the world’. Global fuel prices have soared since the Iran war started earlier this year. The ship’s operator said the monthly fuel cost per cabin in parts of Asia has risen to as much as $8,000 (£6,000) from $1,800.” (10/28/26)
- Federal Judge Rules Top US Prosecutor in Los Angeles Isn’t Legally Serving
Source: US News & World Report
“A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Republican Bill Essayli is not legally serving as the top U.S. prosecutor in Los Angeles. The ruling is the latest roadblock to the Trump administration’s effort to extend handpicked acting U.S. attorneys beyond the 120-day limit set by federal law. The strategy was designed to bypass confirmation by the U.S. Senate — something that generally requires a degree of bipartisan support. Essayli ‘is unlawfully serving as a ‘de facto’ United States Attorney,’ U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright wrote. The order won’t take effect until the court rules on the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal.” (10/28/26)
- Trove of Documents Exposes Secret Palantir Role in Medicare’s AI Pilot Program
Source: Common Dreams
“The software firm Palantir has drawn scrutiny and recent public ire over its role in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, the illegal US war in Iran, and Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. But a trove of documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reveals that the notorious tech company’s tentacles have reached into the American healthcare system—including a widely criticized Medicare pilot program that uses AI models to review requests for medical services. The documents include an application from Zyter, a healthcare technology company that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) chose to participate in the Medicare pilot program, formally known as the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model. Zyter’s application mentions that Palantir ‘provides mission critical software infrastructure for CMS’ and other government agencies, as well as ‘multiple’ insurance companies. Zyter uses Palantir’s software infrastructure, EFF noted.” (10/28/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/palantir-medicare-ai-experiment
- Neil Young sues for the second time over Trump’s use of “Rockin’ in the Free World”
Source: NBC News
“Rock star Neil Young filed a $10 million lawsuit Monday over President Donald Trump’s use of his song ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ at campaign events — the second time he has sued over Trump’s use of his music. In the five-page filing, Young’s lawyers say he ‘has suffered damage to his reputation and brand as a result of the implication that he supports Donald J. Trump in any way.’ The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Virginia against the Trump 47 Committee, a joint fundraising committee, alleging copyright infringement over Trump’s repeated use of his hit song, specifically mentioning an October rally in Ohio.” (10/27/26)
- Serbia: Man shot dead after attacking officer outside Israeli embassy
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Serbian police shot dead a young man outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade in the early hours of Wednesday after what authorities called ‘a terrorist attack’. The country’s interior minister, Ivica Dacic, said the attacker had rushed at a police officer with two knives while shouting the phrase ‘Allahu Akbar!’. The officer sustained a minor knife wound to the face and shot the attacker. Dacic said the suspect has not been identified, but he was a minor and Serbian citizen who was being monitored by security services as he was ‘known to be a supporter of the Islamic State’. Speaking to reporters outside the embassy, Dacic said an investigation is ongoing, but security services said the suspect had posted a picture of the Islamic State flag on his Instagram.” (10/28/26)
- North Korea: Kim Jong Un tells commanders to prepare for war as border tensions rise
Source: United Press International
“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called on military commanders to intensify training to prepare for war, state-run media reported Wednesday, as tensions persist along the inter-Korean border. … Kim praised company leaders as the foundation of the military’s strength and urged them to redouble efforts to improve their units’ combat capabilities. He was joined by senior military officials, including Pak Jong Chon, vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission, Defense Minister Kim Song Gi and military chief of staff Ri Yong Gil.” (10/28/26)
- Repeal Gun-Free Zone Laws
Source: Independent Institute
by Brady Leonard“Within hours of the tragic shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon on October 15th, the familiar political script was dusted off. Gun control organizations were immediately mobilized to demand fresh restrictions on firearm access, expanded waiting periods, and outright bans. Yet no policy proposed by gun control advocates would have changed the outcome, save for the one that left every student and teacher on campus defenseless.” (10/28/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/10/28/repeal-gun-free-zones/
- The Banker Trying To Save Liberalism
Source: Persuasion
by Jeffery Tyler Syck“While poll-tested liberal leaders fell to populism around the world, Mark Carney has done the opposite—by giving liberalism a moral core.” (10/28/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/what-mark-carney-gets-about-liberalism
- Linking housing affordability to successful transit: Lessons from Colorado’s Transit Oriented Communities law
Source: Niskanen Center
by Andrew Justus“The Denver region built a rail transit system but struggles to attract riders due to tradeoffs made in its planning and construction to prioritize speedy project delivery over ridership potential. Colorado’s recently enacted Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) law encourages communities to upzone land around transit infrastructure to boost the state’s housing supply and grow transit ridership. The law is likely to drive substantial housing growth that will complement the Denver region’s existing transit infrastructure, but to be most effective the state should better support communities that facilitate this growth.” (10/28/26)
- You own your life and property
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal“Those who depend on ruling others to make money, secure their position, or to gain power won’t let it go. Respecting your natural human rights isn’t in their interest. It’s up to you to secure your rights — to assume your liberty in the face of all those who want to rule you. Those who govern you hate your realization that liberty is your natural birthright as a human being. They’ll treat you like a criminal if you don’t pretend they have the right to rule you. Which they don’t, because this ‘right’ can’t exist. … Remember: you own your life and your property. You don’t owe them to everyone who demands them.” (10/28/26)
- The Midterms Offer a Choice Between Two Brands of Socialism
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“In the country with arguably the most successful market economy on Earth, it’s not unreasonable to ask for just one major political party to favor a system of relatively unfettered voluntary exchange. And yet, the midterm elections offer Americans a ‘choice’ between a party openly embracing socialism by name, and one that increasingly embraces state-directed economic activity in the cause of nationalism. Not every candidate running as a Democrat or Republican is on board with their parties’ statist transformations, and there are certainly other issues separating the two dominant political tribes. But if you want reliable advocacy of economic freedom, you won’t find it in the two major parties.” (10/28/26)
https://reason.com/2026/10/28/the-midterms-offer-a-choice-between-two-brands-of-socialism/
- What have the tech giants ever done for us?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie“What does Jeff Bezos add to my life? And Elon Musk? and Mark Zuckerberg? and Steve Jobs? and Jimmy Wales? Jeff Bezos gave me the everything store. … Elon Musk made electric cars desirable rather than dutiful. … Mark Zuckerberg gave me free tools to keep in touch with almost anyone I’ve ever met. … Steve Jobs put a powerful computer in my pocket and made it simple enough for a child or a grandparent. … Jimmy Wales gave me the largest encyclopedia in history, free, ad-free, and in hundreds of languages. … The striking point is how little of this value the founders keep. The economist William Nordhaus estimated that innovators capture only around two percent of the social value their innovations create.” (10/28/260
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/what-have-the-tech-giants-ever-done-for-us
- A Non-Nuclear NATO–Russia War Would Still Be Disastrous
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter“Moscow’s anger and frustration is rising, as indicated by the mounting number of incidents in the gray zone category in recent months. Yet policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic appear to have given little thought to the likely consequences of even a sustained, limited war in their countries. The ugly reality is that the impact would be highly disruptive at best—and catastrophic at worst. To the extent that experts examine the issue at all, they usually focus on the least likely scenario: a full-scale nuclear war between Russia and NATO. … But what if Russian or NATO leaders conclude that it’s possible to wage a limited war without either side resorting to the thermonuclear option? (10/28/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/a-non-nuclear-nato-russia-war-would-still-be-disastrous/
- The War in Iran Comes Home to “Trump Country”
Source: Antiwar.com
by Nolan Denaro“Crude oil prices have once again risen above $100 a barrel. The national average for gasoline is hovering above $4. With Republicans nationwide being burdened by the stench of incumbency – regardless of whether or not the individual candidate is currently in office – a return-to-power seems all but imminent for the Democrats in the House of Representatives, and maybe even the Senate as well. This is even true in ‘Trump Country.'” (10/28/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/nolan_denaro/2026/10/27/the-war-in-iran-comes-home-to-trump-country/
- Republicans Can Tout Record of Healthcare Reform This November
Source: Town Hall
by Sally C Pipes“The midterms are approaching fast, and polls paint a grim picture for Republicans. GOP candidates are struggling to win over voters concerned about healthcare costs. Since President Trump returned to office, congressional Republicans have enacted several significant healthcare reforms. Some aim to restrain government spending. Others could put more money in patients’ pockets, expand their control over healthcare expenses, or address practices that contribute to high prices. Consider the Medicaid reforms included in last year’s Working Families Tax Cut legislation. Medicaid spending more than doubled between 2010 and 2024, rising from $397 billion to $932 billion. The new law seeks to restrain that growth, in part by requiring certain working-age beneficiaries to work, volunteer, or participate in education or job training for at least 80 hours per month to maintain their coverage.” (10/28/26)
- Please Let the Internet Die
Source: Wired
by Miles Klee“Online spaces are captured by oligarchs and saturated with slop—and they’re exacerbating humanity’s worst impulses. It’s time to start over.” (10/28/26)
- Politicized debanking was real all along: States can help stop it from returning
Source: The Hill
by Jeremy Tedesco“For years, Americans who lost their bank accounts over their beliefs were told they were imagining things. Banks sent form letters. Customer service read from scripts. Nobody would say why. The federal regulator that oversees the nation’s largest banks recently confirmed what many of us have argued all along: Politicized debanking was real, it was widespread, and it can easily happen again. … Trump’s executive order declared that no American should be denied financial services because of protected beliefs, affiliations or political views, and it set this report in motion. But executive orders and regulators change with administrations. Laws passed by legislatures provide more durable protection. That’s why the states matter.” (10/28/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/6176942-trump-order-fair-banking/
- Revolution or Extinction, the Choice is Ours
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Humanity has the freedom to fail this test and go the way of the dinosaur. We’re allowed to take that path if that’s what we collectively choose to do. We can allow a few massively outnumbered plutocrats and empire managers to drive our species to extinction via climate disaster, nuclear holocaust, or AI apocalypse if we want to. We are completely free to do that. I don’t know about you, but I actually find this a comforting thought. When you take a close look at the existential hurdles that humanity is faced with, it can feel pretty bleak. Global capitalism is destroying the biosphere we all depend on for survival. The western empire is getting increasingly comfortable engaging in reckless brinkmanship with nuclear-armed rivals.” (10/28/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/10/28/revolution-or-extinction-the-choice-is-ours/
- How H.B. Reese Turned Failure Into Sweet Success
Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul McDonnold“The entrepreneur behind the peanut butter cup once worked at Hershey’s. In his own basement, he discovered the power of turning failure into opportunity.” (10/28/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/how-h-b-reese-turned-failure-into-sweet-success/
- How Trump Could Interfere With the Midterms on Election Day, and the Days After
Source: Time
by Philip Wang“In recent days, Trump officials have sued to potentially block the certification of a Senate race in Alaska, threatened election officials in California with jail time, and implied that the outcome in a Senate race in Minnesota couldn’t be trusted if the Republican didn’t win. Trump’s allies have also been urging the President to potentially take drastic measures, including declaring martial law to seize ballots. Election officials in dozens of states are preparing for a wide range of possible interference on Tuesday when millions of voters will cast ballots, as well as in the days that follow as the votes are counted, the final batches of mail-in ballots come in and the election outcomes are certified. … Here’s how the Trump Administration could potentially interfere in each step of the election process—and how state and local officials, and various outside groups, are preparing for each scenario …” (10/28/26)
- Brazil and Venezuela face a tough road back to sanity
Source: New York Post
by Daniel McCarthy“Latin American democracy is being put to the test in Brazil and Venezuela. At stake is whether the left-wing government in either country can countenance the idea of legitimate opposition. The day after losing Brazil’s presidential election, Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro was ordered to hand over his passports and remain in Brazil. His uncle, also a senator, had warned him to flee or face certain arrest if he was defeated. The opposition leader seems to have heeded this advice — he’s reportedly trying to reach the United States. As Brazilians went to the polls Sunday to choose between Bolsonaro and leftist incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, another Latin American opposition leader had just returned to her home country after nearly a year in exile: Venezuela’s María Corina Machado.” (10/27/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/10/27/opinion/brazil-and-venezuela-face-a-tough-road-back-to-sanity/
- A Supreme Court Case Underlines the Absurdity of the Federal Ban on Home Distilling
- California’s Billionaire Tax May Cost More Than It Raises, Reports Find
Source: The Daily Economy
by Thomas Savidge“If a 5-percent levy chases billionaires out of Cali, the long-term income tax gap (not to mention litigation costs) will swallow any wealth-tax windfall.” (10/28/26)
- “AI Race” Against China: A Dangerous, Dishonest Narrative
Source: Common Dreams
by Nicholas Rabb & Jeremy Murray“As Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Washington recently to meet with President Donald Trump, discussions over Artificial Intelligence were hotly anticipated as an urgent matter of national relations, as it was this past May during the previous US-China summit. Disappointingly, little of substance has come of this meeting as well, despite fresh worries over AI doomsday scenarios from industry insiders, and pleas for both regulation and international cooperation. Once again, instead of hashing out guardrails to contain a fever-pitched ‘AI arms race’, the discussion revolved primarily around trade and resources. This discouraging result comes amid an atmosphere in the US in which tech CEOs and politicians claim that China winning the ‘race’ would spell the end of Western civilization.” (10/28/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/ai-race-china-dangerous
- ChatGPT Knows It’s a Bad Bayesian
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“I’ve had many great arguments with ChatGPT. But it’s worrisome that I almost always win. Often, it concedes that my contrarian view is 100% write. At minimum, it asymptotes to conceding that I’m 70% right. Most people characterize this [a]s ‘sycophancy bias.’ But the problem is deeper. Like almost all human beings, AIs are bad Bayesians.” (10/28/26)
- Iran, the Midterms, and the Myth of Government by the People
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Connor O’Keeffe“The truth is, as I laid out here earlier this year, that the war on Iran is not a drastic but necessary measure to thwart an imminent threat from a rogue regime. It’s just another military action, on top of all the others our government is carrying out, that is beneficial for a coalition of unique, well-connected interest groups—from the Israeli politicians who want to direct American power towards weakening their main regional rival to the domestic weapons companies getting paid to restock America’s dwindling munitions stockpiles.” (10/28/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/iran-midterms-and-myth-government-people
- You Can’t Ump Trump
Source: The Next Move
by Jay Nordlinger“Some Republican-aligned journalists said that they would be neither pro-Trump nor anti-Trump. They would be neutral umpires, calling balls and strikes. Which sounds good—reasonable. But there were always problems with this approach. First, the umpires did not call every pitch. They were selective. Pitches that did not reflect well on Trump might not get called at all. Second, not all pitches are equal. The attempt to overturn an election is one pitch, I suppose. The deregulation of oil and gas, another. But you see how one thing crowds out—overwhelms—the other? This gets to the biggest problem with the balls-and-strikes approach: it may work with a normal politician, with a basic fitness for office and a basic respect for our constitutional order, but it cannot work with a Trump.” (10/28/26)
- Prosecutors Want to Keep a Man in Prison for His Wife’s Murder — Despite Judge Saying Their Evidence is Junk
Source: The Intercept
by Liliana Segure & Jordan Smith“[Charles] McCrory was 26 years old when he was accused of brutally killing his wife in the small town of Andalusia. … There was no evidence connecting McCrory to the crime; prosecutors seized on a supposed bite mark found on his wife’s body, which a state expert claimed to match to McCrory’s teeth. … In a September 21 ruling describing the case against McCrory as ‘thin,’ Trump-appointed Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr., zeroed in on this junk forensic science. Not only would the alleged bite mark not be allowed into evidence today, Huffaker wrote, bite-mark analysis itself ‘is grossly unreliable and unsupported by relevant scientific bodies.’ … Unless the state moves to retry him within the next six months, Huffaker concluded, McCrory must be released from prison. … Yet more than a month after the decision, McCrory remains behind bars with no sense of when he might walk out.” (10/28/26)
https://theintercept.com/2026/10/28/bite-mark-forensics-junk-science-mccrory/
- Greta Thunberg’s radical turn deserves scrutiny, not applause
Source: New York Post
by Daniel Schatz“Greta Thunberg recently traveled to France to applaud the protest movement. Wearing a black-and-white scarf associated with pro-Palestinian activism, she appeared outside a high school in a Paris suburb and lent her celebrity to demonstrations marred by rioting, arson and vandalism — with authorities already putting the damage at no less than $34 million. Thunberg brought the applause. Taxpayers were left to pay for the destruction. Her appearance fits a broader pattern of increasingly radical alliances and support for extremism. Before traveling to France, Thunberg had endorsed a motion declaring that ‘Zionism is racism’ adopted by Britain’s Green Party on Oct. 4. Her radical turn has been unfolding for years. Yet in progressive circles, she remains the Mother Teresa of the activist left — a secular saint whose moral authority is taken for granted and whose political judgment rarely faces scrutiny.” (10/28/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/greta-thunbergs-radical-turn-deserves-scrutiny-not-applause
- The Localist Facade
Source: Law & Liberty
by Daniel Pitt“Where, exactly, does the new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham stand on the political spectrum? President Donald Trump recently called him ‘extremely liberal’—indeed, he might even be called a ‘social democrat.’ Both Burnham’s ideological position and his background in local and, more importantly, urban politics influence his politics. But Burnham’s ‘Manchesterism’ is a far cry from the classically liberal Manchester School in economics of Richard Cobden and John Bright, the Ron Pauls of their day, who argued for laissez-faire economics and free trade. Indeed, the Labour leader’s ideology is not liberalism at all, but a repudiation of it.” (10/28/26)
- Losing and Keeping Republics
Source: Law & Liberty
by Matthew K Reising“Thomas F. Madden’s latest work is a needed primer on republican history and theory and an antidote to the democratic malaise dominating current discourse.” (10/28/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/losing-and-keeping-republics/
- Europe went from leading Iran diplomacy to slavishly following US
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Eldar Mamedov“The continent played a crucial role in the JCPOA, but now it finds itself on the sidelines and supporting war.” (10/28/26)
- Medicare for All Can be Simple
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker“With soaring healthcare costs and a plunge in coverage rates, there is growing interest in Medicare for all. Polls show that a large majority of the public now favors a universal Medicare system, with even a substantial share of Republicans now backing it. A universal Medicare system has a huge amount to recommend it. Of course, the main point is to ensure that people can get the healthcare that they need, but it also eliminates a vast amount of waste in the national healthcare system.” (10/28/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/10/28/medicare-for-all-can-be-simple/
- AI Can Never Have Rights
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Brad Pearce“To the tech accelerationists, a human is little more than a particularly inefficient machine. The drive towards infinite automated customization demonstrates a lack of understanding about the extent to which humans are shaped by shared experience as well as being interested in the views of other humans. Art is valued because it is human expression. However, with their shallow understanding of humanity, they do not see the inherent uniqueness of humans compared to the robots they are trying to give ‘consciousness.’ … Currently, it is Pope Leo who seems to be taking the lead against recognizing AI as some sort of artificial humanity, and he may be the only person with the gravitas and imperviousness to being bought off to lead this fight for humanity.” (10/28/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/ai-can-never-have-rights
- New Medicaid Requirements Galvanizing Dems in Battleground States
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish“The reason Tucson resident Garrett Newell can walk is because of Medicaid. Speaking before reporters last week, he described how the program has allowed him to manage his cerebral palsy and lead a dignified life, one with more independence than would otherwise be possible. He is among the millions of Americans living with disabilities or chronic illness whose lives have been transformed by the program, and he wants to ensure everyone has access to it. When Republican lawmakers were threatening to severely slash Medicaid last year as part of the $1 trillion in health care cuts in their One Big Beautiful Bill law, Newell traveled to D.C. to advocate for the program. But Republicans passed the bill with cuts intact, then used the money they saved to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and yet another illegal forever war.” (10/28/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/10/28/new-medicaid-requirements-galvanizing-dems-in-battleground-states/
- Vietnam Banks on Europe
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott“For most economies, especially those in the West, a growth of 9.95% would be celebrated—but in Vietnam, it has caused legislators to go into a panic. Despite achieving the fastest economic growth since 2022, it has fallen short of a target set by Vietnam’s National Assembly in April 2026, of an average annual growth of at least 10% over the next five years. It is for this reason that Vietnam is banking on the new free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) to provide the final boost.” (10/28/26)
- Social Media When Elections Are Close: Doing the Impossible Better
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Corynne McSherry“Everyone knows, or should, that perfect (balanced, targeted, transparent, swift and swiftly appealable) content moderation at scale is impossible. That doesn’t mean powerful social platforms don’t have to try to get at least reasonably close, especially when access to good information can have a profound effect on political participation and speech. That’s why so many people, including the Meta Oversight Board, criticized Meta for suspending a major political Instagram account for hours during a huge early voting push on October 17; and for allegedly boosting one candidate in Brazil’s recent presidential election.” (10/28/26)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/10/social-media-when-elections-are-close-doing-impossible-better
- The Limits of Trump’s Midterm Trickery
Source: The Atlantic
by Quinta Jurecic“If, once most of the results are in, Democrats seem set to eke out a House majority by just a few seats, perhaps committed Trump allies in positions of power could make trouble in a handful of the closest districts. … This could create chaos on January 3, when the new House gathers for the first time: What happens if the contested seats are enough to deny the should-be-majority party the votes it needs to select a new speaker and take control of the chamber? Although this isn’t a foolproof trick for stealing control of the House, such a play could make things very precarious very quickly. But the bigger the majority secured by Democrats, the more difficult it would be for Trump to shave that majority down—the more clerks to convince, warrants to secure, and court rulings to dodge, all over the country.” (10/28/26)
- How the CDC Lied about Shot Injury
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker“The month was January 2021, only a few weeks into the mass rollout of the injection called a vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had outsourced its collection of data from the VAERS system – designed to monitor vaccine safety – to General Dynamics Information Technology. GDIT wrote the CDC a memo dated January 15. ‘The number of incoming COVID-19 reports has significantly exceeded the estimated maximum of 1,000 reports per day,’ the memo to the CDC said. ‘As a result, GDIT is unable to meet processing and other timeframes (data processing, telephone inquiries, clinical inquiries, etc.).’ … The five-alarm fire should have been obvious. At that very instant, if not long before, the shots should have been pulled.” (10/28/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-the-cdc-lied-about-shot-injury/
- Is the Korean Peninsula moving closer to war?
Source: Asia Times
by Lakhvinder Singh“Recently, Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned that Pyongyang could take strong retaliatory measures if Seoul continues activities it considers provocative. To casual observers, this may appear to be just another routine exchange of verbal threats between the two Koreas. However, a closer examination of the current situation suggests that something unusually significant may be unfolding on the Korean Peninsula.” (10/28/26)
https://asiatimes.com/2026/10/is-the-korean-peninsula-moving-closer-to-war/
- The Politics of Equality, the Politics of Autonomy
Source: Liberal Currents
by Silvaria Lysandra Zemaitis“There is no shortage of agreement that liberalism, in the face of fascist authoritarianism and reactionary backslide, is in crisis. And there has been no end of rationalizations, responses, and reactions to this crisis, both from within and from without. These range from the reactionaries themselves, who (at least the more articulate ones) claim that liberalism has produced atomization, social decay, and national disintegration, to the farther left, who claim that liberalism has been a destabilizing economic force that has placed economic efficiency over human flourishing, and to those within liberalism itself, where some argue that liberalism has prioritized identity or self-expression over promoting a unified vision of the good life. While the quality and veracity of those critiques vary, I do believe that liberalism, as a political program, has not been good enough at answering them.” (10/28/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-politics-of-equality-the-politics-of-autonomy/
- The Tom Woods Show, episode 2808
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Harvard Prof: Be Glad It’s Putin.” (10/28/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2808-harvard-prof-be-glad-its-putin/
- Reason Interview: Neal Stephenson
Source: Reason
“Author Neal Stephenson explores the forgotten history of the atomic bomb, how Big Tech transformed the internet, and the enduring value of the Enlightenment.” (10/28/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/10/28/the-untold-story-behind-the-race-for-the-atomic-bomb/
- Rising, 10/28/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on a proposal from Washington DC City Council member Robert White to keep landlords from evicting tenants who fail to pay rent.” (10/28/26)
- Liberty Pub Live at PubKey, 10/28/26
Source: Free the People
“Join Free the People for Liberty Pub Live with Jack Hunter, Jim Antle, and Matt Kibbe to prognosticate on the coming midterm elections. What are the policies, good, bad, and ugly, that will determine who wins, and who loses? Spoiler: It ain’t pretty.” (10/28/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 10/28/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“The Real ‘Affordability Crisis’ – Created By Government.” (10/28/26)
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 10/28/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“A Midterm Trump Hissy Fit – US v. Alaska – Part One.” (10/28/26)
- The Fifth Column, episode 352
Source: The Fifth Column
“The President Is No Longer Taking Calls (w/ Edward Luce).” (10/28/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/the-president-is-no-longer-taking
- Reasonably Optimistic, 10/28/26
Source: Washington Post
“What a reality show taught this author about modern masculinity.” (10/28/26)
- Stress Test, 10/28/26
Source: Mother Jones
“‘Creepy, Weird’: MAGA Flops Abroad and Flails at Home.” (10/28/26)
- Checks & Balances, 10/27/26
Source: Checks & Balances
“How Conspiracy Theories Took Over the Right (w/ Tom Joscelyn).” (10/27/26)
https://chkbal.substack.com/p/how-conspiracy-theories-took-over
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 10/28/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Tirade at Rally Takes Delusional Turn After Fox Drops Poll Bomb.” (10/28/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/217255/trump-tirade-rally-takes-delusional-turn-fox-drops-poll-bomb
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 10/28/26
Source: The Dispatch
“What’s Wrong with France? | Interview: Thomas Chatterton Williams.” (10/28/26)
- Free Speech Unmuted, 10/27/26
Source: Hoover Institution
“Do You Have A Right To Privacy On Public Roads? | Orin Kerr On Flock Cameras.” (10/27/26)
- Politics Politics Politics, 10/27/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“The Midterm Map MADNESS to Beat Them All (with Evan Scrimshaw and Ryan Jakubowski).” (10/27/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/the-midterm-map-madness-to-beat-them
- NPR Politics Podcast, 10/27/26
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“How are voters feeling before Election Day?” (10/27/26)
https://www.npr.org/2026/10/27/nx-s1-6019227/how-are-voters-feeling-before-election-day
- TAC Right Now, 10/27/26
Source: The American Conservative
“Netanyahu Fails to Provoke Iranian Attack Pre-Election, w/ Robert Wright.” (10/27/26)
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 10/27/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Israeli Exit Polls Show Netanyahu Ahead But Short of Majority, Oman Says Gulf Should Unite, and More.” (10/27/26)
- Gracearchy with Jim Babka, episode 172
Source: Gracearchy with Jim Babka
“Netflix’s ‘The Bombing of Pan Am 103’ Finds Gracepoints.” (10/27/26)
https://rumble.com/v7gmkxe-panam-flight-103-gracearchy-with-jim-babka.html
- Trump Watch, 10/27/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The U.S. Government vs. María Corina Machado.” (10/27/26)
- The Bryan Hyde Show, 10/27/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos drops by for our weekly visit. We talk about political theatre, fast cars and what voters should be considering before they vote.” (10/27/26)